*注：本文摘自9月3日《經濟學人》
Noshrinking violets
不必害羞
A TV series about femalevigilantesbreaks taboos in Pakistan
一部關於女性私刑犯的電視連續劇打破了巴基斯坦的禁忌
Shows on streaming services can tackle topics that television channels avoid
流媒體電視劇可以處理電視頻道避免的話題
1.“NOT ALL heroes wear capes,”declares thetrailerfor a new Pakistani television series. Some wearburkas. The stars of “Churails”—which means “Witches” in Urdu—are a gang of femaleavengerswhowieldfists and hockey sticks in anger. Theydispenserough justice to abusive andphilanderingmen.
一部巴基斯坦電視劇預告片稱，“不是所有英雄都穿着披風。”還有一些穿着長袍。《Churails》(Churails在烏爾都語種是“女巫”的意思)中的主角是一羣憤怒地揮舞着拳頭和曲棍球棒的女復仇者，她們嚴厲審判了那些虐待和玩弄女人的男人。
2. Sara is a lawyer who gives up her career for her husband before discovering that therotterhas sentexplicitmessages to scores of women. Jugnu plans weddings for rich couples, and happens to be analcoholic. Batool served 20 years in prison for murdering her husband, who was apaedophile. Zubaida has long suffered under adomineeringand violent father.
Sara是一名律師，她為了丈夫放棄了自己的事業，後來她發現她丈夫是個無賴，給很多女人發過色情短信。Jugnu是婚禮策劃師，嗜酒。Batool因謀殺了她那有戀童癖的丈夫而在監獄
服刑20年。Zubaida長期以來一直被專橫、暴力的父親折磨。
3. Thrown together by chance, the quartet run a secret agency that aims to helpwrongedwomenexactrevenge. They use a clothes shop in Karachi as a front for their activities. The heroines drink, swear and take drugs. There are lesbian characters and a trans one.
偶然的機會，這四人組成了一個秘密機構，專門幫助受委屈的女人進行報復。他們利用卡拉奇的一家服裝店作為活動的幌子。劇中的女主嗜酒如命、滿嘴髒話、還吸毒，有的還是女同，還有的是變性人。
4. Female characters in Pakistan’s television dramas are often depicted as helpless damsels. Their conflicts are usually with children, mothers-in-law or rivals in romance. Lately TV producers have sought to introduce more challenging themes, such as rape and child abuse, but advertisers and channel bosses are not keen. “The most refreshing thing about ‘Churails’ was that it was completely uncensored,” says Aamna Haider Isani, a journalist who covers entertainment for The News, a Pakistani daily. One enthusiastic reviewer called it a “feminist masterpiece”. Another hailed “a monumental moment for representation”.
巴基斯坦電視劇中的女性角色通常都被塑造為無助的天使，她們面臨的衝突通常都是和孩子，婆婆或者情敵有關。最近，電視製作人試圖引入更具挑戰性的主題，如強姦和虐待兒童，但廣告商和頻道老闆們對此並不看好。“《Churails》最讓人耳目一新的是它完全沒有經過審查，”巴基斯坦日報《新聞》娛樂報道的記者Aamna Haider Isani説。一位熱情的評論家稱其為“女權主義的傑作”。另一位則稱“這是電視史上的一個里程碑”。
5. Asim Abbasi, the show’s creator and director, who lives in Britain, explains that he “wanted to tell a story that wasauthenticto women I know and to the society I know”. He is able to do so because “Churails” is airing over a web-streaming service, instead of a television channel. It was created for the Urdu-language unit of Zee5, an Indianvideo-on-demandservice. Going digital “allows us to take risks”, says Mr Abbasi.
該劇的主創兼導演Asim Abbasi定居英國，他解釋説他“想要講述一個我所處的社會和我所認識的女性都相信的真實故事”。他之所以能夠這樣做，是因為《Churails》是沒在電視頻道播，而是在網絡流媒體上播出的。這部劇是專門為印度視頻點播服務公司Zee5的烏爾都語單元製作的。Abbasi説，數字化“讓我們敢於冒險”。
6. Pakistan has no domestic streaming services, but Zee5, Netflix and Amazon are all gaining users. Lockdowns imposed tofend offcovid-19 have helped to boost subscriptions. Ms Isani says her children no longer watch conventional television channels. “They say, ‘Why are you watching the same woman cry day after day?’” That TV-streaming youngsters are now watching completely different things to channel-hopping elders may explain why “Churails” has not provoked more of abacklash. Many conservative Pakistanis have yet to discover it.
巴基斯坦國內沒有流媒體服務，但Zee5、Netflix和亞馬遜訂閲用户都在增加。為抵禦新冠實施的封鎖有助於提高這些流媒體服務的訂閲人數。Isani女士説，她的孩子們不再看傳統的電視頻道。“他們説，‘你為什麼要看同一個女人如復一日地哭泣？現在在流媒體上看劇的年輕人和在電視頻道看劇的老年人看的東西完全不一樣，這可能也是為什麼《Churails》沒有引起更多反對的原因——許多巴基斯坦保守人士還沒有發現這個事實。
篇章結構
P1—P3：《Churails》的女性角色及其內容。
P4:《Churails》是一部不同尋常的電視劇，觸及了不同的主題。
P5：流媒體服務使得人們敢於冒險：《Churails》等新劇能夠播出是因為流媒體沒有審查。
P6：流媒體的內容和電視頻道內容完全不一樣；巴基斯坦保守人士還沒有發現這一點。
重點單詞
shrinking violet羞怯的人；畏首畏尾的人
【例句】
None of the women he paints, however, could be described as shrinking violets.
然而，他畫過的所有女人中沒有一個是羞澀靦腆的。
vigilante/ˌvɪdʒɪ'læntɪ/ n. (自發組織的)治安團體的成員
vigilant/'vɪdʒələnt/ adj. 警惕的；警戒的；警醒的；注意的
【同根】
It comes as social media is blamed increasingly for a rise in vigilante attacks.
社交媒體正日益成為義警襲擊事件上升的攻擊對象。
Not all heroes wear capes.
這句話可以用來稱讚我們身邊的普通人是英雄。這些人並沒有像超人或蝙蝠俠那樣穿着披風，但是依然做出了英雄式的壯舉。
cape/keɪp/ n. 披肩；海角，岬
【例句】
She was wearing a cape over her dress.
她在外套上披着一件披肩。
trailer/'treɪlə/ n. 預告片；拖車；追蹤者v. 乘拖車式活動房屋旅行
【例句】
I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs.
我看過以他的回憶錄改編成電影的預告片。
burka/'bə:kə/ n. 矇住全身的長袍
【例句】
It may be small and red, but this lanyard is no better than a burka!
這雖然很小 而且還是紅的，但是這條短繩無異於矇住全身的長袍啊!
avenger/ə'vendʒə/ n. 復仇者
【例句】
At Avenger Field, the last WASP class learned that their training would be abbreviated.
在復仇者基地，最後一班黃蜂隊得知他們的訓練將被縮短。
wield/wiːld/ vt. 揮舞；使用；行使
【例句】
They wield enormous political power.
他們行使巨大的政治權力。
dispense/dɪ'spens/ vt. 分配, 分發; 施與, 試行；配(藥), 發(藥)
【例句】
The programme dispensed with its most popular presenter.
這個節目最受歡迎的主持人被換掉了。
philander/fɪ'lændə/ vi. 調戲,玩弄女性
【例句】
He spent his time philander with the girls in the village.
他把時間花在和村子裏的姑娘們調情上了。
rotter/'rɒtə/ n. 無賴
【例句】
Why do you invite a rotter like that to your house?
你為什麼邀請那樣的一個無賴上你家裏來？
explicit/ɪk'splɪsɪt/ adj. 詳述的, 明確的, 明晰的；直言的, 毫不隱瞞的, 露骨的
【例句】
She was quite explicit about why she left.
她對自己離去的原因直言不諱。
alcoholic/ælkə'hɒlɪk/ adj. 酒精的n. 嗜酒者, 酒鬼
【例句】
We do not sell any alcoholic beverages.
我們不出售含酒精的飲料。
paedophile/'pi:dəfail/ n. 戀童癖者
【例句】
Mr Musk tweeted unfounded claims that one of the rescuers was a paedophile.
馬斯克在推特上發表了毫無根據的聲明，稱其中一名救援人員是戀童癖。
domineering/'dɑmə'nɪrɪŋ/ adj. 剛愎自用、喜歡支配別人的
【同根】
domineer vi. 跋扈；作威作福；盛氣凌人
【例句】
Many of her women friends also had domineering husbands.
她的女性朋友中,好多人的丈夫也都很專橫。
wronged/rɔŋd/adj. 被委屈的；被冤枉的
【同根】
wronger 錯誤的; 有毛病的; 不合適的; 不道德的（wrong的比較級）;
wrongness n. 不正直；謬誤；不公正
wrong v. 不公正地對待，委屈；誹謗
【例句】
She enjoys playing the wronged wife.
她很喜歡扮演受委屈的妻子。
exact/ɪg'zækt/ adj. 精確的；準確的，精密的vt. 強求；要求；急需vi. 勒索錢財
【例句】
Stress can exact a high price from workers (= can affect them badly) .
壓力可能迫使工人付出昂貴的代價。
damsel/'dæmz(ə)l/ n. 少女；年輕女人
【例句】
When I got a flat tyre I had to wait for my boyfriend to come and help me, like a true damsel in distress!
爆胎時，我不得不等男朋友來幫忙，真成了落難女子。
mothers-in-law婆婆；岳母
【例句】
From interfering to molly-coddling, mothers-in-law have long been accused of making life a misery. But their daughters-in-law may now be exacting revenge.
從干涉到溺愛，長久以來，婆婆都被指控是讓人日子不好過的角色。但她們的媳婦或許現在正在報復。
uncensored/'ʌn'sensəd/ adj. 未經審查的,無保留的
【例句】
He said it is highly likely that another service sharing Gab's views on uncensored speech would take over.
他説，另一個在未經審查言論上與Gab網站持同樣觀點的網站可能會接手。
authentic/ɔː'θentɪk/ adj. 真的, 真正的；可靠的, 可信的
【例句】
This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it.
這是篇可靠的新聞報道, 我們相信它。
video-on-demand視頻點播
【例句】
The new update allows users to access video on demand just like the iPad version could since February.
從2月開始，新應用將允許用户可以自選視頻，就如iPad版本一樣。
fend offv. 避開；擋開
【例句】
They also fend off infections by hostile bugs.
腸道細菌也能抵禦有害菌引起的感染。
backlash/'bæklæʃ/ n. 強烈反應, 對抗性反應；後衝, 反撞; 後坐力
【例句】
A modest backlash is under way, in an unexpected quarter.
温和反彈正以一個讓人意想不到的方式進行。
- THE END -
堅持就會有收穫！